ozark trout fisher

It has been altogether too long since I have last been on an Ozark river. I don't even want to think about it. But today I got the chance to fix that with a very nice float on the Bourbeuse River. I arrived at the Reikers Ford Access at noon, ready for the eleven mile float down to Mayers Landing. The sky was sunny with just a few puffy clouds, and the temperature was around 80. The river at Reikers Ford was off color, but not muddy. In all things looked pretty good. I just can't even begin to express how good it felt to push off the access and just start floating down the river. A variety of things have conspired to keep me off the rivers for awhile, and it was so nice to have nothing on my mind more pressing than to just relax on the river and attempt to catch a few fish. The first part of that (the relaxing) was very easy. The second part not so much. I had floated down river a couple miles and had gone through at least five different lures before I finally tied on a Rooster tail spinner. Pretty quickly after that I had my first fish of the day, a longear sunfish. Not a big fish, but it sure was pretty and you have to start somewhere. I ended up sticking with Rooster Tails for the rest of the day, and managed to have a lot of fun with that. Not that I caught a lot of fish or any big ones- I didn't-but the action was pretty steady when you consider all of the longear sunfish. It is easy to dismiss the longears-they are so small, but they are some of the prettiest fish around. Talk about a colorful fish. The largest fish and only bass of the day was a smallmouth of what I will generously call 9 inches. Well I say it was a smallmouth, but that isn't strictly true. It was a hybrid, with more smallmouth than spotted bass in it, but it still it definitely had at least some spotted bass blood. But sometimes the rest of the day can just be so good that you really can get past the fact that the catching is really bad. And fish numbers aside, it was a phenomenal day on the water. It's easy to characterize the Bourbeuse as kind of a marginal river with it's off color water and abundance of long, still pools-I'm guilty of that. It is just 40 minutes from home, and I fish it less than I do some rivers two hours from home (like the Current.) My loss. That river in it's own way is just as beautiful as any deep Ozark stream. It flows through very pretty, wooded, hilly country that isn't remote but seems like it is from the river. I saw all kinds of wildlife, including no less than eight herons. I didn't see any other canoes or anyone else on the river whatsoever in seven hours of floating and eleven miles of river. I wouldn't have been able to say that if I had gone down to the Current or some place like that. That's worth the slow fishing isn't it? I thought so. It was a great day. I will have pics on my blog probably by tomorrow. I don't even have them loaded on the computer yet and I probably won't get to that tonight. Paddling through all those long, slow pools has a way of making you tired.

That's a fact. It certainly has been affecting how much I go down to the Ozark rivers this year. Sure it hurts, but when money's tight you just deal with it and fish local to avoid the gas money. Last year I fished the Current River (a two and a half hour drive from home) about every two weeks. This year I'm lucky to get on it every two months. It is not surprising to me that the canoe rentals are having some difficulties. I don't think I'm the only one not able to get on the rivers as much as I want. I do feel very bad for the canoe rental folks trying to make a living in this environment.

That's an ever present thought in my mind...Is Little Piney navigable? Personally I believe strongly that it is, at least below Lane Spring. That would determine the legality of fishing in the Vida Slab stretch particularly, along with most of the river below where it flows out of the the National Forest property. I have heard that some landowners in that area have given anglers trouble, although that is not something that I can say that has ever happened to me. My personal policy on situations like that, is keep fishing the stream if you think it's navigable and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but be extra careful to be on your best behavior on the stream and do your best to keep the peace with the landowners. It is important that landowners on that creek see most fisherman as being responsible, relatively quiet types who pick up after themselves and leave the place better than they found it. That's especially crucial on a creek like Little Piney where there may be some gray area.

Great fish! On a dry fly too. That is something to be proud of. You won't be forgetting him anytime soon. I was actually just gonna start up a thread asking if they were still taking Cicadas down there (hoping to head down Friday and Saturday), but I think you just answered my question.

Well I guess it depends on the way you are using the word special. It is special in the sense that it is a beautiful, intimate trout creek with some really pretty fish, actually my favorite type of trout stream- it's not special in the sense that the number and sizes of the fish is pretty average, at least based on my experience. You have to understand that I love little creeks like that above and beyond the bigger, more productive rivers like the Current or the Eleven Point. It is where my heart is at. But I guess when it comes right down to it, when I have recommended those kinds of streams to folks, when they don't catch big fish or big numbers, they often as not come away feeling like I reccomended them a poor stream, and some folks have made that pretty clear to me (just to be clear I am not referring to anyone who has posted on this thread.) My love for those kinds of creeks is kinda personal, and I guess I don't have much reason for it. And apparently that kind of thing is very subjective and certain kinds of fisherman don't share that. So I've learned that you have to be careful in your description of creeks like Mill if you don't want to give people the wrong idea.

If you are looking for something blue, scenic, spring-fed, and generally great in every way that counts, by all means float the Eleven Point. For late summer, you'll want to stay below Greer Spring-but below the spring you should be fine, barring some drags through the shallower riffles. For a three day float I'd recommend Greer Crossing Recreation Area to the Riverton Bridge Access (approximately 20 miles.) To shorten that up to a two day float, take out at Whitten Access instead. Greer to Turner for a one day through what may well be the best trout water on the river. On that float you have great river camping, great trout fishing, decent smallmouth fishing, and some of the most beautiful scenery in the midwestern United States. Never mind, make that some of the prettiest scenery anywhere in the United States. The Big Piney is another one you may consider. The float from Slabtown to Ross (approximately 15 miles) actually reminds me a lot of the Eleven Point River-wild country, tall bluffs, beautiful scenery etc, except that it is all smallmouth bass and goggle-eye. And it is truly a great smallmouth river. Both of those rivers are big-time flashflooders, so watch out for that if you camp. I'm sure you are fully aware of that, but I had to say it anyway... I forgot about canoe rentals: Eleven Point Canoe and Hufstedlers on the Eleven Point, and Rich's Last Resort on the Big Piney (there are probably others.) I have no personal experience with these canoe rentals as I have my own and arrange my own shuttles. I also missed the part about needing showers where you camped. I think there may be showers at Greer, but since I have spent most of my nights down there camping on gravel bars, I have not actually looked into that. You can probably find that on the forest service website though. Good luck on your trip-you ought to have a good time on any of those rivers you listed. Wow, sorry about that. That was a really unnecessarily long, rambling post.

The Cicadas were absolutely insane here in Warren County. Now they are still pretty thick, but they are winding down. The bass and bluegills are still keyed into them. I caught lots of sunfish and one pretty bass last night on the surface. There weren't many naturals on the water, but the fish are still looking up. I don't think they will forget the Cicadas for awhile even after they're gone. And soon enough they will start keying into hoppers anyway, although not to the degree that they did with the Cicadas. I am already seeing them in the tall grass back behind my house in significant numbers, although I've not seen many/any in the water yet. With all of that going on there should with any luck be pretty good surface action most evenings between now and sometime in October-a pretty nice thing to be able to look forward to.

Absolutely awesome pictures. I think most people would be shocked that we have anything like that in Missouri. The Eleven Point River country is special for sure.

Yep. I have had to quit the parks almost entirely. I can have kind of a hot temper when people are blatantly rude and/ or mean, and I just have a lot better time when I don't spend the whole trip being pissed off.

Great report. Sounds like you head a great day on a great stream catching them on dry flies. You can't beat that. Thanks for sharing.

Those are some pretty small stream fish for sure. Mill is a nice little creek-it definitely falls under the category of a trout stream that is nothing particularly special, but still has quite a few pretty wild trout in all the right spots. It was in rough shape for a couple years when we had drought more than most streams because its feeder springs are unusually dependent on recent rainfall, but it seems to be bouncing back pretty well. You have to love how resilient those wild trout creeks are. A couple good water years and they are fishing like nothing ever went wrong.

Highway 8 Bridge (Woodson K Woods Access) to Scotts Ford Bridge is probably your best option...You only have a mile or a bit more above the spring, and about eight miles below, but that's the only one day float I can think of that would include mileage above and below the spring. Greens and Ozark Outdoors Canoe Rental are two that service that stretch. I'm sure there are others. Concentrate on the first 4-5 miles of that float for the best fishing. After that the river slows down and it isn't quite as good.

Fly fisherman are inherently crazy. Our warped way of looking at the world makes us believe that it is entirely worth while to pretty much make it your life's purpose to get on the water as much as possible, to unquestionably believe that it is worth while to drive two hours to a trout stream when you can catch bass bluegill in your back yard, and to consider what most people would call an infestation to be welcome, because it gets the fish rising. Right now the thirteen year Cicadas are hatching, infesting, and buzzing their way across the Ozark region. In the middle of the day when they are loudest, it is barely possible to hear anything else in the woodlands near my home. The bugs seemingly have no problem attaching themselves to humans, and the fact that they do not bite doesn't seem to be much of a comfort when one of these massive, prehistoric looking bugs lands on your face. But the fact of the matter is they fall into the water of every area lake, river, and stream in massive numbers, and they get the fishing looking up in a way that I have not seen since I have moved here. So I have been spending a lot of time on the lake near my home, casting Dave's Hoppers (which is not a very close imitation of a Cicada, but it seems to be close enough) catching about as many crazed, frenzied bass and bluegill as I want to. It makes me think that this must at least vaguely resemble what a salmon fly hatch is like on a western river: fast, crazy fishing for fish that are keyed into the surface. It has been so good that two nights ago when I went out on a canoe on one of the local ponds, I was absolutely sure that I would have no difficulty whatsoever landing as many fish as I pleased on a Dave's Hopper. Sure enough, the fish were rising like crazy to the Cicadas, but for some reason I just couldn't draw more than just a few half-hearted rises to my dry fly. I guess this showed me that whenever I think that I have the fish wired, they have a way of showing me that I don't actually know nearly as much as I thought I did. So on the assumption that like fisherman, fish are also essentially insane, I tied on exactly the wrong fly for these rising fish, an Olive Woolly Bugger, and proceeded to catch fish like crazy. You know how it is.

Awesome fish. Seeing that you posted this I have to admit that I was expecting a picture of a monster smallmouth, but a 30+ pound fish on a fly rod is worth getting excited about regardless of species. I've never gotten into the carp thing, but I may yet. I can't imagine the fight. If I had hooked that thing on a 6 weight it would be gone before I knew what happened. I actually did once hook a very large grass carp on an ultra-light spinning rod, and he stripped all of the line off of my reel within a matter of just a few seconds. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome report and pictures. You caught some really nice fish. Where I live the Cicadas are so loud in the middle of the day that you almost can't here anything else. It's pretty incredible. That dry dropper fishing sounds like a lot of fun-just like fishing on a western stream as you mentioned.

Thanks for the report. I am also surprised you did anything given the unprecedented snow pack this year. Early June is a very unreliable time to plan a fishing vacation to Colorado. Sounds like you got super lucky and had a great time. I am also looking forward to a Colorado fishing trip a the end of this summer (mid-August) although that will be to the Northwest corner of the state (Yampa River, Trappers Lake, Flattops Wilderness, etc.) Hopefully it will be a good time, and it should be very nice to get out of the Missouri heat for a week or so.

I was kinda wondering the same thing. It could be Turner Mill as well, besides all the ones already mentioned. I think that the original poster may need to add a few more details before anyone can really have much idea what spring he was talking about.

That's pretty crappy. I worry about that every time I park the truck on an Ozark stream, especially when I'm floating. Sorry that happened to you. There are some real bums in this world, no doubt about that.

I think I will be down there in the next week or so. Hopefully trout fishing, but if water temps don't pan out I'll go a bit further downstream and fish for smallies.

Sounds good. Now if this heat doesn't get the water temperatures too high for the trout we might be in good shape.

Brookies are great. I agree that they may be the most beautiful, graceful fish that swims. Some of my fondest fishing memories are of fishing for native brookies a few years back on the little mountain creeks of the Adirondacks, or their western counterparts in the waters of a tiny meadow stream in the Montana's Big Hole country. The trout maxed out at about 8" in both of those areas, but the gorgeous country that brookies always seem to live in combined with the beauty of the fish made those experiences that I'll never forget. I think the smaller brookies tend to have brighter colors than the big ones, so I don't really mind the small size. Still I wouldn't mind getting out to Labrador to catch some of the great big ones. I went to the Adirondacks again last summer, and we caught rainbows, browns, good sized smallmouth bass, walleye, and rock bass, but the fish that I think of when I envision that trip is a little 9" brook trout that I landed on the West Branch of the Ausable, on the last evening on the water... A beautiful, native, very possibly wild brookie in a stream dominated by browns and rainbows, exotic species. Finding that one little holdout in a stream where most of the native trout are gone really made the trip for me. I don't know why, but it just did. Don't get me started on brook trout fishing...I could go on all day. Just suffice it to say that I love them

If the cicadas are really, really on and fish are rising like crazy, look no further. Otherwise, 1/32 ounce dressed Panther Martins and size 0 or 1 Mepps with gold or silver blades will work well. Dressed spinners usually work better than the regular ones. 1/32 ounce Marabou jigs in white, pink, yellow, black, and olive can be very effective too. You can also drift beadheaded glo-bugs (egg patterns) deep under a small bobber or indicator with an ultra-light, a set-up that is just about sure to catch fish. Keep in mind that on the lower end of that float below Akers and down to Pulltite there aren't going to be that many trout, or smallies either. The goggle-eye fishing is pretty good though, and the scenery down there ought to be enough to keep you busy anyway. Make sure to stop when you float by Welch Spring. Not only is the spring extremely beautiful, but where it joins the river is an excellent place to fish for trout.The junction pool is very deep and fishy and there are some very nice braided riffles downstream that are also productive. Keep in mind that you can't fish the spring branch itself, but the junction pool is fair game.

I had been seeing cicadas all over the place for the last couple weeks, and I have been hearing some reports of pretty impressive dry fly fishing associated with them, but until today I had yet to experience the it. I got out today at about 1 o'clock to a lake less than a half mile from my house, and found countless cicadas buzzing the water, with a good number of them on the water itself. Even though it was hot, and the middle of the day, there were plenty of fish rising to keep me busy for a considerable time. Bass, bluegill, green sunfish, you name it. I do not have a pattern in my box that is really even close to imitative of a cicada, but I did have a few #10 Dave's Hoppers. That proved to be close enough. If I targeted rising fish, and twitched the fly in the same manner as the cicadas, I would get a strike on nearly every cast. The really fun part about it is that these were not restrained, dainty takes. The fish were really hammering the fly. I fished until about three o'clock, when at least for the moment I had enough. I decided to try it again this evening, from 7:30 till dark. There were still some cicadas on the water, but the numbers were significantly less. Since the fish had gorged themselves through the day, and there were few bugs on the water, I was concerned that the fishing would be pretty slow. Fortunately that was not the case. It wasn't a take on every cast, but the fish were still very much looking to the surface, and were still willing to eat. I didn't catch any monsters (the best fish of the day was a 14" largemouth, a real fighter) but the nearly constant surface action, even in the middle of the day, was just a real treat. I'm officially hooked on cicada fishing.

And that's exactly what the problem with fishing tournaments is.

I pretty much agree with that. All said I have been pretty disappointed when trying the flies and techniques that are suggested in fishing reports. Maybe I'm not fishing whatever fly correctly, maybe the conditions are different, and maybe the report that I've based my trip on was a lie, or at best a half-truth. There's no knowing. I am not just talking about the MDC reports, but any fishing report, whether it's posted by a guide, a fly shop, or even on here. I do much better when I go to the stream with an open mind, willing to try a bunch of different things until either I find what is working for myself or it is time to go home. That even goes for long trips. I am of the sort to go to some region like the Adirondacks with a fairly wide selection of flies, and just pull off at any body of water that looks likely to hold fish. No plans, no local knowledge, nothing but a map,a rod, a one man tent, and the pure fun of exploring new country. I either get the reward of catching fish in a new place or the consolation that I gave it my best shot, and had a whole lot of fun in the process.